Shelly Burgado says the one thing she really misses is the long hair she had before the boating accident. “I just don’t see the point (of growing it out) because they’re going to have to shave it again anyways,” she said. Shelly has at least one more major head surgery to undergo.

A year ago, Shelly Burgado was in a medically-induced coma at a Savannah hospital. She would stay like that for weeks.

Her grandparents - John and JoAnn Rhodes of Bluffton - battled many sleepless nights, not sure if Shelly could endure surgery after surgery.

They've lost count, but estimate their 24-year-old granddaughter has undergone hundreds of procedures following a disfiguring boating accident on the May River in May 2009.

A propeller sliced through her head and face and nearly took off a leg. Everyone thought the leg would have to be amputated, including Shelly.

Doctor's warned not to be disappointed if she never walked again.

On Friday, she graduated with more than 350 other students from the Technical College of the Lowcountry, earning an associate's degree in arts and science.

"I didn't think I feel any different, but when I walked over ... there was such a feeling of accomplishment," she said on Saturday morning. "It didn't kick in until it was over. It feels so good to have graduated."

Shelly said she plans to start on a bachelor's degree in August at the University of South Carolina Beaufort in hopes of becoming a teacher.

"Just because I was in accident, it didn't change my life goals," she said. "It just changed the way I was going to get to them."

Last spring, the then 23-year-old was riding in the front of a 20-foot Sea Ray boat that was pulling a wake-boarder. When the wake-boarder dropped off, the boat turned around, Shelly fell into the water, and the boat ran over her.

She doesn't remember any of it, perhaps allowing her to maintain an upbeat attitude, despite physical changes and differences.

"I can't change what's happened," she said. "God wouldn't have let this happen if he didn't think I could have handled it."

These days, the petite woman walks a little slower and her left hand doesn't move quite like it once did.

"I'll take a limp any day," she said as she walked through the front offices of her grandparents' pool company off Dillon Road on Hilton Head Island. "I'll never forget the day I finally got out of that thing." She was talking about a wheelchair.

Six months after the boating accident, on Nov. 10, she stood up out of the wheelchair.

"I hated that stupid chair," she said. "I ended up banging up all the walls and door frames at my grandparents' house, and they had just had all the walls painted."

John Rhodes teased her, saying, "She drove her wheelchair like she drives her car."

While some things have returned to normal - like driving to visit friends. Others have not.

"I was a girly girl and I think the hardest part - even overcoming the scars - is that I always got complimented on my long hair," she said.

"I've always had the longest, prettiest hair. Now, I just don't see the point (of growing it out) because they're going to have to shave it again anyways."

When the boat propeller struck her, it broke the skull on top of her head, leaving a soft spot. She will have to undergo yet another surgery, in which doctors will insert a protective plate. More oral surgery is also pending. The bottom portion of her jaw was destroyed.

"The bone is completely gone," Shelly said.

Despite all that, JoAnn Rhodes said her granddaughter has fared, "a lot better than I originally thought."

She credits the successful recovery in part to the positive response from the community.

"People I've never met before will come up to me and ask, 'How's Shelly doing?' " JoAnn said. "It's an amazing community; it really is."

Numerous fundraisers - including golf tournaments, motorcycle poker runs and support from local restaurants - have helped to raise an estimated $28,000 for medical bills, John Rhodes said.

"There's been a lot of prayers and a lot of financial help and a lot of encouragement," he said. "I just can't say 'thank you' enough."

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